LOS ANGELES -- As a two-time Sun "Gymnast of the Year" while competing for Dracut High School, Julianne Deveau has had lots of experience flipping her lid for panels of judges.

But this time was bitingly different.

Deveau, 28, and her business partner, Ozma Khan, were invited to pitch their "Kookn'Kap" kitchen-wear creation to judges Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec on ABC-TV's top-rated reality show, Shark Tank, along with the show's nearly 7 million weekly viewers.

"My family is so excited," said Deveau, who moved to Los Angeles with her husband in 2007 after graduating with a public-relations degree from the University of Rhode Island.

Dracut native Julianne Deveau, standing in white at left, and her business partner Ozma Khan, far right, face the Shark Tank panel as they pitch their Kookn'Kap hats on the episode airing tonight. Sitting in judgment, from left, are the "Sharks": Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec. ABC-TV PHOTO

"When I first told my big brother, Michael, last year that we were applying to be on Shark Tank, he said, 'There's no way you guys are going to get on the show with Kook'nKaps. The only way you're going to get on is because you're cute.' "

The nationally televised, season 5/episode 3 of Shark Tank, featuring Deveau and Khan offering the five sharks an investment opportunity in their trendy, easy-to-wash line of chef hats, designed to keep cooking fumes out of a dinner party hostess' carefully coifed hair, will air tonight at 9 on ABC stations.

Per the confidentiality clause in the show's contract, Deveau is not permitted to reveal the result of the Kookn'Kap pitch -- including whether Cuban and Co.

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invested in or had anything encouraging to say about the product -- before the show airs. Not even to her mom, Deveau said.

However, Deveau was allowed by ABC to shed light on the guest-vetting and audition process that she and Khan went through, which is lengthier and more exhaustive than most fans of the show realize.

"The first thing we did was email the show at sharktankcasting@yahoo.com, but several months went by without hearing anything back, and we figured those emails were just going into this black hole," Deveau said.

About three months after sending that email, Deveau and Khan received a phone call from a show producer. "He said, 'Hey, I'm from Shark Tank ...' and Ozma and I started jumping up and down in the office."

The "Kookn'Kap girls" were required to fill out about 50 pages of questionnaires that tested their knowledge of their product, patents, trademarks and marketing. They were also instructed to put together a 5-minute home video that touted their product and answered 20 questions provided by the show's producers.

"Apparently, we did a great job, because after that we met with the Shark Tank's producers and Sony execs to do a dry run of our pitch," Deveau said.

Finally, the Kookn'Kap creators were invited to make a pitch on-camera in front of the five sharks/judges during a day of pitch tapings on the Sony/ABC studios lot in July. Taping day began with Deveau and Khan getting hair and makeup fully done at 8 a.m., followed by a nearly 5-hour wait in a trailer with a group of 10 other show guests, before they were summoned to the Shark Tank set after noon.

"It's pretty intimidating at first, getting up in front of the five sharks and pitching your product, with no audience, no one cheering you on," said Deveau. "You're telling them your story, hoping one of them bites."

The pitch experience turned out to be "less scary" than she or Khan anticipated, Deveau said.

"Things switch around a lot when you go up there. You'll have to just wait and see what happens," she said.

Through the audition process, and even after their on-stage taping, Shark Tank's producers cautioned the Kookn'Kap girls there was no guarantee the segment would actually air. Confirmation that it will be on TV tonight gave Deveau, Khan, their families and friends more reason to celebrate.

"My brother said, 'I don't even know how you pulled this off. It's crazy!' said Deveau, quoting Michael Deveau Jr., who will host a Shark Tank viewing party tonight with his mother in Chelmsford. "He just had a baby that's 2 months old, so I got him a little shark outfit for the viewing party."

Several more relatives are planning home-viewing parties, said Deveau, who only wishes her biggest fan could have watched as well. Her dad, Michael Deveau Sr., died in January 2011 of cancer, at 50, only four months after being diagnosed.

"My dad was a mailman for 26 years in Christian Hill, and if he would have been able to see me on this show, he would've been over the moon," said Deveau. "And everyone on his entire route and the other mailmen would be watching, too."

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